Humanitarian efforts to support refugees usually start with security, health, food, water, and shelter. Energy is often less urgent, to the extent that 90% of refugee camps have limited access to electricity, and 80% rely on burning biomass for cooking. New research by the Joint Research Centre published in the journal Nature Energy shows how a total up-front investment of just over US$1 billion in renewable energy could meet electricity demands for almost 300 refugee settlements in sub-Saharan Africa. This would support 1.15 million households, 59,000 microbusinesses and 7,000 institutions. Replacing diesel generators with solar photovoltaic mini-grids would also help avoid the emission of 2.86 Mt of carbon dioxide equivalents over the next 20 years.

This research, which supports the Global Gateway Africa-EU Green Energy Initiative, culminated in the freely accessible Clean Energy Access Tool available on the Africa Knowledge Platform.